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Monday, October 24, 2011

Turkey quake


Scientists estimated that up to 1,000 people could have been killed. The worst damage was caused to the town of Ercis, in the mountainous eastern province of Van, close to the Iranian border. The city of Van also suffered substantial damage. The powerful quake, the strongest to hit the country in years, and its aftershocks struck Van, a large eastern city populated mainly by Kurds. The worst damage was caused to the town of Ercis in Van, close to the Iranian border. The city of Van also suffered substantial damage. “Around 10 buildings have collapsed in the city of Van and around 25 or 30 have collapsed in Ercis, including a dormitory,” Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said. Atalay said authorities had no information yet on remote villages, adding that the governor was now touring the region by helicopter to assess damage. The quake s epicenter was in the village of Tabanli. Authorities did not provide a casualty figure but the Kandilli observatory, Turkey s main seismography center, said the quake was capable of killing many more people. “We are estimating a death toll between 500 and 1,000,” Mustafa Erdik, head of the Kandilli observatory, told a televised news conference. His estimate was based on the structure of the housing in the area and the strength of the quake. The Turkish Red Crescent said its rescuers pulled several injured people out of the collapsed dormitory in Ercis, which sits on a geological fault line. In Van, a bustling city with many apartment buildings, at least 50 people were treated in the courtyard of the state hospital, the state-run Anatolia news agency said. “There are so many dead. Several buildings have collapsed. There is too much destruction,” Zulfikar Arapoglu, the mayor of Ercis, told NTV television. "We need urgent aid. We need medics.” Serious damage and casualties were also reported in the district of Celebibag, near Ercis. Some houses also collapsed in the province of Bitlis, where at least one person, an 8-year-old girl was killed, authorities said. The quake also toppled the minarets of two mosques in the nearby province of Mus, reports said. Terrified residents spilled into the streets in panic as rescue workers and residents using their bare hands and shovels struggled to find people believed to be trapped under collapsed buildings, television footage showed. Several Cabinet ministers headed to the area as authorities mobilized rescue teams across the country. The quake had a depth of 20 kilometers (12.4 miles), which is relatively shallow and could potentially cause more damage. Turkey is earthquake-prone due to being crossed by several fault lines. And a powerful earthquake in the town of Caldiran in Van province killed 3,840 people in 1976. In 1999, two strong quakes in the heavily-populated and industrialised regions of north-west Turkey left some 20,000 dead.

Libya declares liberation


Mustafa Abdul-Jalil also told thousands of supporters at a ceremony on Sunday that Islamic Sharia law would be the “basic source” of legislation in the country and that existing laws that contradict the teachings of Islam would be nullified. In an address that set an Islamist tone for post-Gaddafi Libya, he said new banks would be set up to follow the Islamic banking system, which bans charging interest. “This revolution was looked after by God to achieve victory,” he told the crowd. Mounting calls for an investigation into whether Moammar Gaddafi was executed in custody overshadowed plans by Libya s new rulers Sunday to declare liberation and a formal end to the eight-month civil war that toppled the longtime dictator. An autopsy confirmed that Gaddafi died from a gunshot to the head, Libya s chief pathologist, Dr Othman al-Zintani, said hours before the liberation declaration was to start the clock on a transition to democracy. However, the pathologist said he would not disclose further details or elaborate on Gaddafi s final moments, saying he would first deliver a full report to the attorney general. Libya s acting prime minister said he would not oppose an investigation, but cited an official reporting saying a wounded Gaddafi was killed in cross-fire following his capture.